Bacterial foraging optimisation: Nelder-Mead hybrid algorithm for economic load dispatch

A novel stochastic optimisation approach to solve constrained economic load dispatch problem using hybrid bacterial foraging (BF) technique is presented. In order to explore the search space for finding the local minima of the current location, the simplex algorithm called Nelder-Mead is used along with BF algorithm. The proposed methodology easily takes care of solving non-convex economic dispatch problems along with different constraints such as transmission losses, dynamic operation constraints ( ramp rate limits) and prohibited zones. Simulations were performed over various standard test systems with different number of generating units and comparisons are performed with other existing relevant approaches. The findings affirmed the robustness and proficiency of proposed methodology over other existing techniques.